


Something Good and Right and Real

by taylor_writes



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 18:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7652833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_writes/pseuds/taylor_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Who the hell drinks coffee with a straw?”</i> Dex thought as he looked over at the last occupant of Annie’s.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Good and Right and Real

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Taylor Swift's "State of Grace"  
> Based on [this post](http://promptsfordays.tumblr.com/post/147813804435/soulmate-au-where-your-tattoo-shows-the-first)  
> Characters from [Check Please](http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/)

William Poindexter sat at a table at Annie’s Coffee Shop, waiting for 9:00 to roll around so he could check in for his tour of Samwell. He still wasn’t sure where he was going to end up for college, but he really hoped it was here. Yeah, it was expensive, but there were scholarships (and he might even get a full ride if the hockey team wanted him). 

The campus was beautiful and he could definitely see himself here. There was a great computer science program also, and it wasn’t too far from home. Not like some of the schools he was looking at across the country.

But none of those were the real reason Dex wanted to go to Samwell. No, he’d heard from friends about the “one in four maybe more” rumor that over a quarter of the people met their soulmate at Samwell. In his small town, most of the people he’d graduated with had already met their soulmate or just decided to settle for whoever they were dating at the end of senior year. But Dex had hope that somewhere there was someone meant just for him, and Samwell, he thought, was his best chance of finding them. 

He looked over each of the people in the coffee shop wondering if maybe any of them could be his soulmate. Probably not. It would be highly improbably to meet them on his very first day here, when he isn’t even a student yet. 

The girl at the counter had seemed nice enough, but she was wearing a button that said “lesBEAN” with a picture of a smiling coffee bean, so he probably wasn’t her type. Not to mention, he didn’t feel any tattoo coming on during or after their interaction. It’d be pretty hard to interact with a person without thinking anything about them, so he rules her out completely.

It’s mostly deserted at this hour of the morning, most students either sleeping or in class. At the end of the hour, it would fill up again as a new batch wakes up and drags themselves to the first class of the day. But for now, it was just Dex, the counter girl, a blond guy over in the corner reading quietly. And one more.

_“Who the hell drinks coffee with a straw?”_ Dex thought as he looked over at the last occupant of Annie’s. 

-

_“Chill, Nurse. It’s just an itch,”_ Derek thought as a somewhat painful itch spread across his thigh. _“You can’t keep getting your hopes up thinking that every mosquito bite or rash is your soulmate mark.”_

But he had to check. Because what if it was?

He’d noticed the blond guy, and had not-so-subtly been checking him out, but he didn’t think the guy had noticed him. 

He urgently pushed his chair back and rushed to the restroom, locking himself in a stall and quickly pushing his shorts down. 

An unfamiliar handwriting scrawled across his thigh in black ink. 

“Who the hell drinks coffee with a straw?”

His soulmate was here! And they were kind of an asshole, but they were here and they were real! 

Derek had been so worried; he was about to be a freshman in college and he still hadn’t met his soulmate yet. Lots of people from his school had spent their summers travelling all over the world, trying to meet their special someone. Derek had laughed at them, calling them desperate, but in reality he had been worried there was no one out there for him. He didn’t want to try just to be disappointed when he never got a mark.

He traced the letters once, twice with his finger, feeling them on his skin where they would stay forever. 

“At least it’s not on my face,” he mumbled to himself. He might never have forgiven his soulmate for disrupting his perfect face.

After a couple minutes, he took a deep breath and fastened his pants, ready to go out and meet his soulmate. 

But…the blond guy was gone. His fellow hipster book nerd had disappeared and now he’d lost him forever. And his bathroom freak out had taken a while and now he was late to check-in for his tour. Great. Today was just going great.

-

Derek shuffled into Faber and joined the back of the tour group, led by a small girl named Larissa, apparently the team manager. He wondered how someone as small as her could control several hockey giants, but once she started speaking it was clear that she was not someone to mess with. He made a mental note to stay on her good side. 

He couldn’t hear very well from the back so he decided to check out the other players instead. If he had any questions, he could always ask Shitty. 

There was a very excited guy pressed up against the glass, begging someone to take a picture of him with the rink. And a redhead rolling his eyes and taking the phone.

Redhead…he remembered one of those vaguely from the coffee shop. What if Redhead Guy was his soulmate?! 

_“I have to think something sexy at him. Wait. Did that count? That’s so embarrassing, he better not be my soulmate.”_

He shrugged and turned to look behind him, where Shitty and some small blond kid were coming through the doors with…were those goodie bags? Derek hadn’t gotten one of those since childhood, when they’d hand out goodie bags with video games at his friends’ birthday parties.

The little blond was mentioning something about pie, and he most definitely wanted to be in front of the line for that. He’d heard Shitty talking about how this kid’s baking is literal perfection, and he had to try that himself.

A loud, obnoxious laugh distracted him from any pie thoughts and he turned around to see the redhead pushing up his sleeve and showing something to Shark Boy (he was wearing so much Sharks merch Nursey could barely see his face between the large hoodie and the hat). 

“Check this out! Just got it today!” Redhead Guy said, gesturing enthusiastically. “My soulmate’s such a dork. I love them already.”

No. It couldn’t be him. 

Shark Boy waved him over to join in the excitement. “Look! Dex just got his soulmark! It says ‘I have to think something sexy at him. Wait. Did that count- ‘”

“That’s so embarrassing, he better not be my soulmate,” Nursey finished. 

Redhead Guy/Dex’s eyes got so wide, Derek thought they might pop out of his head. 

“H-how’d you know that?” he asked.

“Because I’ve got one on my thigh that says ‘who the hell drinks coffee with a straw.’ Hi, I’m Derek.”

“Will, but most of the guys have decided to call me Dex,” he said, blushing.

Shark Boy was beyond excited. “Hey guys! Look! These two just met their soulmates! Can we have some celebratory pies for them because wow that’s so swawesome!”

Redhead Guy/Dex/Nursey’s soulmate grinned at him. “Thanks, Chowder. I think I’m really gonna like it here.”

And celebratory pies were had by all. And they were delicious; Shitty wasn’t lying.

Derek could get used to this. Pies, friends, hockey, and a cute soulmate – what more could he need?


End file.
